Engineering researchers receive $1.9 million in federal funding

Six McMaster researchers have been awarded more than $1.9 million combined for infrastructure funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).

The projects are funded through CFI’s John Evans Leaders Fund (JELF), designated for exceptional researchers to conduct leading-edge research by giving them the requisite tools and equipment to become leaders in their fields. The awards were part of a national funding announcement made today by Minister of Science, the Honourable Kirsty Duncan.

Rob Baker, McMaster’s vice-president, research, says infrastructure investments like these are vitally important to our ability to remain internationally competitive.

“Having access to state-of-the-art facilities not only allows us to conduct leading-edge research, it enhances our ability to attract the best students and researchers, he said, saluting the researchers on their success and CFI for its continued investment.

Minister Duncan stressed the importance of research infrastructure investments in the nation’s future.

“Our scientists need the best tools and equipment for ground-breaking research and discovery and we are committed to ensuring they have them,” said the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science. “Their successes will lead to an improved economy and will fuel an active research community here in Canada and internationally.

McMaster’s JELF recipients are listed below. A brief description of each project can be found here.

Kathryn Grandfield and Nabil Bassim, materials science and engineering, received $799,980 for their project: Plasma Focused Ion Beam for Mesoscale Tomography of Materials

Zeinab Hosseini-Doust, chemical engineering, was awarded $135,361 for her project: Building a Bacteriophage Biotechnology Platform

Thia Kirubarajan, electrical and computer engineering, was awarded $100,000 for his project: Computational Suite for Emerging Concepts in Target Tracking and Information Fusion

Jennifer Bauman, electrical and computer engineering, received $80,000 for her project: Electrified Powertrain Modeling Laboratory: The Optimization of Efficiency, Cost, and Lifetime of Electrified Vehicles

John R. Evans was the founding dean of McMaster’s Faculty of Health Sciences (1965-1972) and the CFI’s first Board Chair.